If you're looking to buy a home, an important step (among several) is to find out what's on the market. Fortunately, home sellers are eager to find you, and will advertise in numerous ways, most of them online.
Still, it's worth finding out the best sources of homes for sale, so as to make sure you don't miss any prospects. Even if the same house is listed on various websites, the differences in presentation may allow you to get a better idea of whether you're interested in visiting the property in person.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has, for decades, been at the center or creating and maintaining a proprietary database of homes for sale called the Multiple Lising Service or MLS. In fact, it's not really one big national database, but a number of standardized regional ones.
Several online sources of homes for sale draw from MLS data, most notably Realtor.com and individual real estate agents' or companies' websites (Redfin.com for example).
Some of the information that's kept on the MLS is accessible only by Realtors; and only Realtors who've paid their NAR dues can enter home listings on the MLS.
For purposes of your househunt, however, you'll find plenty of information on MLS-based sites. Foreclosures and short sales are commonly shown along with ordinary home sales. And the data within the MLS gets extra points for accuracy, given the limitation on who can post homes for sale there.
Real estate agents and even individual home sellers (going "FSBO," or selling by owner) routinely place home listings on several non-MLS, consumer-oriented sites. Zillow, Trulia, and Craigslist are obvious examples.
Noodle around these and you'll get a sense of which you most enjoy searching on. Just don't get your heart set on a home you see on one of these sites without double-checking the information elsewhere.
If you're interested in shopping for bank-owned and foreclosure properties, separate websites might be worth checking. (Don't expect bargains, however, especially as some of these homes are sold "as is," and are as distressed as the former owner's financial situation was.)
Popular sites include Auction.com, J.P. King, United County Real Estate Auction Services, Foreclosure.com, RealtyTrac, HomePath (by Fannie Mae), Wells Fargo, and the IRS (which auctions off properties lost due to unpaid taxes).
The majority of homebuyers do their main home searching online, but it's still possible for properties to fall through your various search filters. That's why it's a good idea to use your own eyes to look around neighborhoods you're interested in purchasing in.
You may spot not only "For Sale" signs, but ones indicating that a house is "Coming Soon." Or you may see homes that are for sale by owner (FSBO), but haven't been well advertised. (Your agent, if you have one, might have little interest in showing you FSBO homes, out of concern that the seller may be cheap, unprofessional, and unwilling to pay any commission, even to the buyer's agent.)
There was a time when home buyers relied solely on agents to do their searching for them. And they still have a role to play: A good buyer's agent will learn your tastes and limitations and steer you toward houses that might suit you. The agent should also have been following the market for years, and know your home's "back story."
What's more, your agent may know of "pocket listings" within his or her own agency; that is, houses that aren't being formally advertised, but where the seller has asked the agent to keep an eye out for a likely buyer. This is most common in the luxury home market, where sellers prefer the privacy of not telling the world that their home is open to visitors or even sitting empty.
Nevertheless, if you're just starting your search, you might prefer to use the tools mentioned above to get a sense of what's available before bringing an agent into the mix. In fact, most buyers spend months looking around on their own before signing up with an agent.
Even after hiring an agent, there's no reason not to do your own searching. You might, after all, fall in love with a place that is completely unlike what you told your agent you were looking for.
It is possible to hire an agent at the last minute if you find a house you'd like to bid on. But we recommend NOT hiring the agent you meet at an open house, who primarily represents the seller.
